Amos 6:1-7

Pentecost 16 | Sunday, September 25, AD 2022 | Amos 6:1-7, 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Luke 16:19-31 | Andrew F. Weisner |
(St. Sergius of Radonezh, Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery, Moscow, +1392)

Amos 6:1-7
Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria, the notables of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel resorts! ²Cross over to Calneh, and see; from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is your territory greater than their territory, ³O you that put far away the evil day, and bring near a reign of violence? ⁴Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the stall; ⁵who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music; ⁶who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! ⁷Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile, and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.

Psalm 146

1 Timothy 3:1-13
The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. ²Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, ³not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. ⁴He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way— ⁵for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? ⁶He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil. ⁸Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; ⁹they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. ¹⁰And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. ¹¹Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. ¹²Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; ¹³for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Luke 16:19-31
‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” ²⁵But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. ²⁶Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” ²⁷He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” ²⁹Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” ³⁰He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” ³¹He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’

Homily

       We can say there are various kinds of „death.“ There is, of course, the actual physical death of a person when the heart stops beating and the lungs stop breathing. And there are other kinds of death: the death – the end – of friendships due to a dispute, or (less likely now-a-days) due to distance; the death of a marriage, due to divorce; the death of a job, due to being laid-off, or perhaps the company closes; the „death“ of an old, familiar way of doing things – graduating from school, concluding your time in the military, or one of many other kinds of closures.

       In each of these instances of „death,“ there is formed a gap between what was, and what is; a separation, a distance; one could say even a chasm, an un-crossable difference between „the past“ and „now,“ the „old“ and the „new;“ e.g., between health and sickness; a chasm between one friend or one spouse and the another. Or, as in the case someone who has died, a chasm between life and death.

       These experiences and facts are sometimes cruel, and cold, hard realities, separations – chasms – which we actually experience and suffer. So, is there any „good news“ (any „gospel“) related to these separations, these chasms?

       Indeed, one instance can be quickly pointed out; it is something we say ourselves with some frequency. „For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven…  he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man.“

       There it is. As Martin Luther’s Christmas hymn begins, „From heaven above to earth I come.“ The great chasm between the almighty, creator, powerful God: perfection, goodness, truth, righteousness, and a limited, finite, self-centered, weak, suffering humanity — this great chasm has been crossed. We recite it in the Creed, and we celebrate it at Christmas: in the incarnation of God, a chasm is crossed at the birth of Jesus.

       And while that is a significant chasm, there is another. According to scripture — St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4; the first letter of St. Peter, chapters 3 and 4 — and as we recite in the Creed, „he was crucified, died and was buried… [and] descended into hell.“ Abraham, Lazarus, and others may have wanted to, but they couldn’t. It was Jesus, God incarnate, „God with us“ and God for us, „for us and for our salvation,“ who crossed that great chasm, died and descended into hell; to the abode of that suffering, at-one-time rich man, who finally recognized his horrible, wretched sin of indifference to the poor. And according to the letter of St. Peter, the gospel was preached even to the dead, „he went to preach to the spirits in prison;“ and according to St. Paul, „when he (Christ) ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives“ (Ephesians 4).

       By his descent into hell, Jesus, incarnate God, crosses the chasm to his lowest point of suffering the humiliation of the incarnation on our behalf. At one and the same time, Christ suffered andovercame, through his suffering, the torment of hell as separation from God. Jesus did not only suffer the wrath of God in his conscience, not only anxiety about his calling; he suffered not only temptation to compromise his loyalty to the Father and his kingdom; he also suffered the distress of humanity all the way to the cross, subjecting himself to the powers of death, Satan, and hell. This, perhaps the deepest humiliation of Christ – his descent into hell – happened so that, as the Lord even of hell, he destroyed once-and-for-all any ultimate power that hell holds over our future.

       When we confess in the Creed Christ’s descent into hell, we are claiming that his work of salvation reaches beyond the limits of those who preach and hear the gospel in this life. Christ crosses that great chasm, going even to the dead, so that he be acclaimed Lord of all — the living and the dead.

       Christ goes across all chasms; and moreover, he builds bridges; he prepares a way for us. Therefore, if Christ has crossed all the great chasms between heaven and hell, death and life, suffering and triumph, and built bridges there, then most assuredly he has crossed over and prepared for usbridges that we can cross, between broken relationships, between care and indifference (as for example, the poor), between anger and understanding; between disappointment and sorrow in this life and joy in the life to come.

       And even now, Christ continues to cross over chasms: just as from heaven he came to earth as a babe in Bethlehem, so he continues to come, crossing a chasm, feeding, nourishing and sustaining us with his true Body and Blood, crossing the chasm as bread and wine; feeding, nourishing and sustaining us until that time when we will cross the chasm to a new and glorious life.

       Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

From:
The Rev. Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D.,
The North American Lutheran Church (NALC)
Antioch Lutheran Church, Dallas, North Carolina